John Henderson is determined to put up a strong defence of the World Cup of Darts and repay playing partner Peter Wright for his support.
The pair, who claimed the title for Scotland last September, start their defence in Frankfurt tonight against Hong Kong’s Lok Yin Lee and Ho Tung Ching.
Normally a country’s two highest-ranked players compete in the World Cup, but, after stepping aside last year, Gary Anderson has done to same again to allow Henderson and Wright to defend their crown.
“The Highlander” Henderson says the confidence world No.1 and world champion Wright gave him last time around was key to their success and hopes they can repeat the feat.
The 49-year-old said: “It was the best weekend of my darting career to win the World Cup.
“It’s given me the hunger to go and try to win it again.
“There’s more pressure, because last year I don’t think anybody expected us to win it.
“But after we beat Poland (in round two) we felt we had a great chance. Peter instils so much confidence in you and hopefully we can do it again.
“Darts is all about confidence and self-belief – you need to have the talent, but if you haven’t got confidence then you’ll struggle.
“With my results over the last six months, my confidence has taken a dent, but it’s a great boost to represent Scotland again.
“Normally it’s the two highest-ranked players from the country, but I’ve been given the opportunity to defend it which is great.
“Gary Anderson has said it’s only right that Peter and myself should defend the title.
“That was very good of Gary to give me the opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it.
“Peter said last year I carried him, but I don’t buy into that – you win as a team and you lose as a team.
“What he was telling me off the oche in between games was a massive help for me.
“Yes I played well, and now I hope I can pay him back for all the help he’s given me and hopefully we can have a good crack at it.”
Consulting the best
Last year’s World Cup success didn’t lead to the upturn in form Henderson had hoped for.
In 2022, his best performance in a ranking event has been reaching the last 16 of a Players Championship event and as a result he faces a fight to retain his place on tour in the second half of the year.
The Huntly thrower admits his form has been dispiriting at times, but he has been able to seek support from some of the biggest names in the game in his attempts to end his lean spell.
Henderson added: “It can be hard to stay positive, it’s very frustrating when you play well and lose.
“People keep telling me I’m playing well. If I was averaging in the 80s consistently then I’d know there was a problem with my game.
“But that isn’t the case – my average for the entire season is sitting at 93.
“Peter has been great with me, even before the World Cup I was close to him.
“We’ll have a throw and a yap about things before tournaments, and Michael van Gerwen is another one that’s been good with me.
“When I qualified for the European Tour event in Prague, he was there watching the qualifiers and watched all of my games.
“I played Stephen Bunting and Adrian Lewis to get through and won both games 6-1, and then in the Players Championship I’m losing 6-5 with a higher average than in those games.
“So I’ve spoken to Peter and Michael and Gary has always been good to me as well.
“They all tell me I need to be patient and the results will come, but I’m sounding like a broken record, because I’ve been saying for the past 18 months or so that it’ll come.
“Last year I thought after winning the World Cup I thought that might be the spark.
“That hasn’t happened, but I know the game is there so I’ll keep going.
“It’s good to speak to these guys. I remember Peter before he got to the final of the World Championship for the first time (2014) and he had spoken about quitting.
“He knows what it’s like when results aren’t going your way. Michael is the same to a certain extent.
“Going by his high standards, he’s maybe not performing to the levels he was two or three years ago, and Gary’s gone through the same.
“They’ve all been there and it’s good to get some information from them.
“They’ve all told me it will come – I’ve just got to ride this bad spell out.”